title: The attitudes of socially marginalized men toward physician-assisted suicide.
abstract: Bioethics and public policy literature suggests that socially marginalized populations may be at increased risk for overuse of physician-assisted suicide (PAS) were it to become more accepted. Yet the attitudes of socially marginalized populations toward PAS have not been widely studied. The present study surveyed a sample of men in a substance abuse recovery program. Participants completed a PAS attitude questionnaire and a religiosity measure. Support for PAS was fairly evenly split, with 52.2% indicating general opposition to PAS and 46.9% indicating general support. Greater religiosity was associated with more negative attitudes toward PAS. Higher educational level was associated with more acceptance. Overall attitudes toward PAS were considerably more negative than those of Dr. George Domino's (2003) general population sample.
authors.affiliation: The California School of Professional Psychology, USA. louisaparks@sbcglobal.net
authors.forename: Louisa A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Parks
authors.forename: Diane C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Zelman
authors.forename: Richard L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Wanlass
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001293:Attitude to Death; D055030:Drug Users / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D054526:Men's Health; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D012931:Social Environment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D029181:Spirituality; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D017236:Suicide, Assisted / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult